Blizzard pushes Mavs back a day

A spring blizzard that dropped more than 7 inches of snow on Rapid City, S.D., by 2 p.m. Tuesday forced the postponement of Game 6 of the Missouri Mavericks’ Central Hockey League playoff series against the Rapid City Rush Tuesday night.

A spring blizzard that dropped more than 7 inches of snow on Rapid City, S.D., by 2 p.m. Tuesday forced the postponement of Game 6 of the Missouri Mavericks’ Central Hockey League playoff series against the Rapid City Rush Tuesday night.

The game was originally scheduled for 7:35 p.m. Central time Tuesday, but has been pushed back to 7:35 p.m. tonight (6:35 Mountain time) at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City.

The Mavericks, who won three consecutive games at the Independence Events Center last week, hold a 3-2 lead in the series. A win tonight and the Mavericks will move on to face the Allen Americans in the CHL semifinals.

If Game 7 is necessary, it will be played at 7:35 p.m. Central (6:35 Mountain) Thursday.

The release from the CHL league office stated “with the treacherous road conditions, high winds, freezing temperatures and snow accumulations in Rapid City, each game has been pushed back one day.”

“It is what it is,” Mavericks coach Scott Hillman said by phone from Rapid City. “There was some talk that this might happen on Monday, but they wanted to take a wait-and-see approach.

“We went to the arena for our skate around Tuesday morning and it was coming down pretty hard. I was surprised that we didn't see more vehicles out moving the snow. I think it's the right call. You certainly don't want to endanger the fans or the players or anyone associated with the game.

“And it is bitterly cold. It's much colder now than it was in the morning when we went for our skate around. I'm guessing there is at least 7 inches of snow out there and it's still coming down.”

The Mavericks lost the first two games of the series in Rapid City, then returned to the Events Center to claim a 3-2 overtime win Wednesday, a 4-2 victory Friday and a 5-2 win Saturday.

“This is our second trip up here, so the extra day of rest could be beneficial,” Hillman said. “We're not going to lose any of our momentum because of the postponement.”